Take Off The Suit And What Are You?
by The Sherlockian Vulcan
Summary: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark walked smoothly up the steps to stand next to the podium, his brightest smile plastered onto his face. He was tired of this hero stuff, always cleaning up after SHIELD. Following orders was not his thing and after what he had seen on SHILD's 'private' server he wasn't so sure being a hero would work out. Oh well, he tried.
1. Hero?

Spoilers for Thor 2 and Captain America the Winter Soldier!I hope people read and like this! First avengers fic!

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

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Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark walked smoothly up the steps to stand next to the podium, his brightest, most fake, smile plastered onto his face, just another mask to wear over the other as he danced to the ridiculous tune that the finicky public and media wanted to hear.

Below him stood all the reporters, news crews, and the crowd of fans; everyone here to see the famous Iron Man and hear about his latest spectacular accomplishments as a superhero. Cameras flashed brightly, blinding him, while voices rose in a clamor for attention, questions asked and comments thrown, the sound nearly deafening him.

God, he hated this. All the people in the crowd, pushing, shoving and shouting at him with praises and questions. He hated the never ending string of questions. They never left him alone, everyone wanted to know what he was up to, why Pep- Mrs. Potts left Stark Industries, and how he was doing so well as CEO. He hated the mindless praises from the crowd. He didn't want to keep masquerading as the superhero that he knew he wasn't. Why couldn't they just thank him by staying out of his way and out of trouble?

The billionaire knew exactly what they were going to do. They were going to give him a nice, big, shiny medal and tell him 'good job', but he didn't want that. He didn't care about the medals or the congratulations that he received; the world in Tony's mind had shifted and now everything had changed.

Nothing had been the same since Thor decided he was retiring to marry Jane Foster. The god had return to Earth with the news that his brother, Loki, had died saving his life. Apparently Loki, Thor and Jane had been very much involved in the phenomena in London. They had successfully captured the Ether substance and taken it to another realm where it would be safe. Another all powerful substance that had almost destroyed the Earth.

Nothing had been the same since Captain America had found his long lost friend Bucky. He had decided they needed some time to catch up and help Bucky remember the past he had had with Steve Rogers. The winter soldier had been found standing in the Captain America section of the museum, staring at the description of a past that he should remember but could only catch tantalizing glimpses of, after he had dragged Steve out of the river where he had fallen as the helicarriers had destroyed themselves in the sunny sky above the pair.

Yes, Tony had helped upgrade the helicarriers because they caused less damage and showed SHIELD just a tiny piece of his genius. Yes, the billionaire had known that they were going to become scraps before they actually did anything because he knew that Captain America would never let people die without a proper trial.

The ships themselves destroyed each other quicker and more efficiently than they would have originally, fewer civilians were hurt and only an unfortunate few were killed. He had also made sure that when Natasha had put all of SHIELD's files online nothing of his would be found.

Nothing had been the same since SHIELD had been revealed as having a hidden HYDRA and all their dirty secrets had been exhumed. The Black Widow had retreated with Fury, Hill, and Coulson (Tony had known that Coulson was not dead a few weeks after what happened at New York. Regularly hacking SHIELD's mainframe for fun had so many benefits) to wait out the catastrophe and deal with the press' and world's reactions to the news.

The future was changing and he was changing with it.

Just after the Battle of Manhattan, whilst absentmidendly hacking into SHIELD, Tony had discovered SHIELD's plans for the future. He had immediately recognized the new helicarriers for what they were: massive killing machines. It was not all that surprising because, after all, the council had tried to nuke a city containing 8 million people. The 'upgrades' he had designed had tiny flaws that no one but a genius of his caliber would recognize, letting Captain America and his merry crew gain control of the helicarriers a bit easier.

But the helicarriers were not the only things of importance that Tony had found. SHIELD wanted him out and they had plans to take everything from him, his suits (which he had rebuilt when Mrs. Potts left him for another) with a few more additions and upgrades, JARVIS, his houses and his company (he had become CEO after Mrs. Potts had left and was doing a damn good job).

He would never let SHIELD or any other corporation take away what was his.

He was tired of being the perfect little hero to clean up all the messes of other people, mainly SHIELD. He had known that Natasha was going to put all of SHIELDs secrets onto the internet so it would destroy both HYDRA and SHIELD and he was completely unconcerned. He had censored, deleted, and altered all of his information long ago to keep him and his safe. He was surprised that Natasha actually followed through with putting everything out there for everyone to see instead of just bits and pieces.

Just because SHIELD was in shambles didn't mean that they were the only ones that wanted Iron Man or Tony Stark out of the picture.

Cheering jerked him out of his contemplations and he noticed the small weight of a medal that was pinned to his suit. Yay, another medal and congratulations for something that he doesn't really care about.

Waving politely at the crowd of fans before walking over to his latest suit, Mark 54, he plastered on his best smile. The suit surrounded him quicker than all of the earlier models, encasing him in its cushioned interior. Also it was lighter and stronger than before due to a new metal that he had found and combined with his gold-titanium alloy from Mark 2.

Soon, he was blasting over the river, skimming the waves and generally enjoying the wonders of flight. It was only JARVIS's announcement of a new arrival in the penthouse that shortened the joy ride.

Iron Man's feet hit the the landing platform hard and, rims spinning, he walked forward as JARVIS removed and stored his latest creation. His mind was already running through schematics and upgrades for the Mark 55.

Tony Stark walked casually through the glass doors to find a man with sparkling green eyes slouching on a stool by the bar, face hidden by shadows, ghostly pale skin pallid in the harsh sunlight, a bottle of scotch sitting unopened in front of him.

"I believe you owe me a drink."

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So... With reviews I will continue quicker! I hope everyone liked!

Please review!


	2. New Beginnings

Hello again! I am so sorry it has taken so long to update but teachers choose to assign all of the big projects right at the end of the school year. So much fun. I am very happy to add another chapter to this story and I have already started the next chapter that will (hopefully) be longer than this one by quite a bit. I hope everyone likes!

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

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"I believe you owe me a drink," Loki stated smoothly as Tony walked in through the glass doors of the penthouse and froze, his breath catching in his throat and his eyes widening in shock.

Loki was in his house, slouched unthreateningly on a barstool, but all Tony could see was the confident smirk of the god that had thrown him out of a window, the god who had created a portal and brought in aliens, the portal that he had taken the nuke through, the portal that behind held the endless emptiness of the void that no words could describe.

Dimly, Tony could hear JARVIS attempting to talk him out of the panic attack that gripped him but it was just white noise as he struggled for breath and collapsed onto floor. One hand flew to his new and improved arc reactor that he had put in his chest to fill the gap left by the surgery, feeling the smooth casing to solidify its existence in his mind. The steady, glow of the miniature arc was normally reassuring but even the constant, blue glow was unable to calm his racing heart.

He missed Loki's fearful looks at the ceiling, searching for JARVIS, and the widening eyes as he watched Tony fall, unable to understand what was happening or help avoid it.

Loki wore the same broken mask, had the same rough voice, and the same brittle smirk graced his lips but the eyes were all wrong. In place of the mesmerizing blue was a piercing green that shone as bright as emeralds.

Tony's mind struggled to comprehend the change and the significance when there was an almost audible click. Blue of the tesseract, Clint's blue eyes, Loki's blue eyes. And Tony was able to breath again.

His newly gained understanding, however small, of what had really happened at the Battle of Manhattan and after help lessen the fear that caused the panic attacks in the first place. All of his panic attacks had been caused by the fear of uncertainty as the genius was haunted by things he could not comprehend. And now Tony had Loki, the perfect person to answer all of the questions that tore him from sleep every night.

Some things were becoming clear now. This wasn't the same Loki, Loki had been controlled before, the blue eyes changing to green being evidence of that, and now he was released from the previous control. But why was he at his tower? Thor had taken Loki to Asgard and then returned a few months later with news that Loki had perished in the fight for the Ether. And why was the Chaos God cowering next to one of his barstools looking fearfully at both the ceiling and himself?

It was only then that Tony noticed the gradually widening puddle of blood around Loki, the bruising that mottled the other man's arms where the tunic had moved, the extreme paleness of the god, and the fear in the brilliant green orbs.

"Mute," Tony coughed out as his ability to breathe returned and JARVIS fell silent. All of Loki's attention turned towards him as the inventor stood shakily and stumbled over to where the ebony-haired god was crouched, each step more steady as he recovered his balance and breath.

"It's ok, I'm fine. That happens more than I want it to but it's not like I can stop it. Besides, I've had far worse. The voice in the ceiling is JARVIS. He is an AI, Artificial Intelligence, and I built him. Don't worry, everyone freaks out when they first hear him. Thor kept talking about a spirit in the walls for weeks after he heard JARVIS for the first time..."

Tony rambled on about each of the Avengers hilarious reactions to hearing JARVIS as he cautiously crept closer to Loki. As he continued to talk the other man began to relax, but Tony was still worried about the growing pool of blood surrounding the god.

Finally, Tony reached out towards the ebony haired man who immediately tensed back up and grimaced slightly at the pain before the mask of indifference slid over his face once again.

"You do realize that my floor is very expensive, right?" Tony asked with a small smile. Loki cocked his head to the side in confusion. Clearly he did not know that the tile for the floor were so very expensive or why that was so important.

"You're getting blood all over my very nice, new tiles so either get up and sit yourself on the couch or let me help you," Tony said as he stared directly into the deep green eyes of the fearful god crouched in front of him.

Slowly, Tony reached out and lightly grasped Loki's arm, ignoring the flinch the touch caused, and pulled both Loki and himself up off the floor. All the while Loki was staring at Tony like he was crazy.

"Why are you doing this?" Loki asked softly, his voice normally smooth voice rough.

"Because you are hurt," Tony answered honestly, "and because you are the only one that can give me the answers that will let me sleep."

The last part was added softly, an admission that Tony did not normally make. Mrs. Potts had known about the nightmare but had never understood why he had them and had never cared enough to try and help.

After she had left, Tony had retreated behind Iron Man's mask and the usual Tony Stark facade of narcissism. How ironic was it that 'Natalie Rushman' and classified him as having textbook narcissism when that was literally what it was. The narcissism was just another shield against the rest of the world, another barrier around his fragile heart.

Tony didn't know how he had expected Loki to respond but the understanding in the broken god's eyes was too much. Instead, Tony simply led Loki over to the couch, laid him down gently and went to get the first aid kit, water, and a towel.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked while he walked into the bathroom to grab a couple of towels.

"Bottom cabinet, on the far left," came the answer from the nearest speaker. Tony followed the directions and grabbed the first aide kit from where it was sitting and walked back into the living room.

Loki had not moved from his position on the couch, his eyes closed, and he almost looked as if he was asleep. It was only when Tony noticed how rapid the skinny gods chest was moving did the genius realize that Loki was trying not to panic.

"I got the stuff," Tony announced as he walked over to sit on the edge of the couch, careful not to touch the ebony haired man yet. As soon as the inventor spoke, Loki's eyes snapped open and his whole body tensed before Tony was identified and, while the god's muscles relaxed somewhat, the terrified alertness never left the sparkling green eyes.

It was only after the tenseness of the muscles dissipated almost completely that Tony moved to open the first aid kit, laying it across his lap before setting it aside in favor of the towels and water.

"I know you are hurt but before I can do anything to help I need to clean you up a bit," Tony explained as he poured water over one of the towels and moved to clean off the gods filthy hands and arms. He moved slowly, not wanting to startle the ebony haired man, and gently rubbed the grime away to reveal even more cuts and bruises.

Each new mark angered Tony more. It was inhumane to treat anyone this way, even murders had rights, but it was unlikely that Loki had gotten these injuries from Asgard. Thor believed he was dead and so did the rest of the kingdom and, Tony assumed, the rest of the nine realms. Tony pushed the contemplations away and used to wipe off the dirt, blood, and sweat from the hurt god's hands, arms, and, when Loki expressed no dissatisfaction, his neck and face.

Two destroyed towels later, an oddly complacent Loki was as clean as he could be without a shower or bath. Tony threw the filthy towels in a corner for the cleaning bots to pick up later and turned to the dozing god when he suddenly realized what he was doing.

Tony Stark was voluntarily inviting a known criminal that everyone thought was dead into his home and taking care of him, instead of turning him into the authorities like he should, and he didn't give a damn.

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Because of finals it might take me a while but I'm hoping to update this story in the next two weeks or sooner. Wish me luck!

Please review!


	3. Cleaning Up The Mess

Sorry it took so long! I have another chapter in the works to I though that I should post this one now. There might be a few typos but here shouldn't be very many. I hope everyone enjoys.

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

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_Tony Stark was voluntarily inviting a known criminal that everyone thought was dead into his home and taking care of him, instead of turning him into the authorities like he should, and he didn't give a damn._

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Loki looked simultaneously better and worse after he had been cleaned up.

Most of the grime that had been layered over porcelain white skin had been washed away by the two destroyed towels Tony had flung into the corner but, now that the dirt was gone, the half healed cuts and bruises that were layered upon each other were more visible than before. It made Tony sick to imagine anyone inflicting this much damage on anyone, but he also gained an admiration of the strength Loki must possess to survive through the agony of the torture he had obviously endured.

In addition to the extensive cuts and bruises there were at least four broken ribs, two cracked ones, and, according to JARVIS, there was evidence that Loki's captors had broken most of the bones in Loki's body at one point. Luckily, the cracked and broken ribs did not need to be set and were the only bones that had not yet mended, the rest had healed properly. All that Tony needed to do was make sure that Loki did not hurt himself more than he already was.

The injury that worried Tony the most was a large gash across Loki's chest that stretched from the the right side of his collar bone and tapered off near his left hip. Tony had managed to stop the bleeding for the moment but he knew that what he really needed to do was remove the filthy tunic and bandage the god's chest before it got infected or started to bleed again.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty?" Stark asked quietly as he lightly touched the foot that lay closest to him. Startled, Loki immediately pulled his feet closer to himself as his eyes snapped open and locked onto Tony's, who remained unmoving in an effort to not startle the injured man more than he already had. "It's ok," Tony said soothingly as he raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to help."

Loki glared silently at Tony for a moment before tilting his head in question. Tony took this as his cue to continue. "I need you to get out of your tunic armor thing so I can bandage your chest," Tony explained slowly as he leaned forward slightly and tried to make sense of the buckles and ties on the vest.

After a few minutes of useless plucking and tugging, Tony sighed and leaned back in defeat. For all of his intelligence the inventor could not figure out how anyone could possible put on, much less take off, a vest like the one Loki was wearing. Glancing up at the god, Tony noticed that the emerald eyes were no longer quite so flinty and seemed to be almost sparkling with amusement.

With another sigh, Tony reached into the first aid kit he had set aside and pulled out the scissors with the idea that at the very least he could try to cut away the leather. Upon seeing what Loki perceived at a weapon, all traces of the previous amusement fled and the injured god attempted to find a way to defend himself but was simply too tired and too hurt. The only thing he succeeded in doing was moving his arms over his chest where the pressure irritated the chest wound so that it began to bleed again.

A small whimper of pain and fear escaped Loki's chapped lips, the small sound making Tony turn and see the exhaustion and pain in Loki's eyes and the defensive posture. Moving very slowly, Tony lifted the scissors and dangled them on a finger to show that he wasn't going to do anything. "I can't get your vest thing undone so I'm going to try and cut through the leather with these. I'm going to only cut through the vest and the tunic and I'm going to try move you as little as possible, ok?"

There was no nod in response but Loki's arms flopped back to his side, leaving his chest open. Tony can see the effort it takes the god to simply move his arms and remembered how the god had crawled out of his floor after being swung around by the Hulk. Granted, he had gotten up a few hours after being swung around but the wounds were not healing as fast as he would have expected so it was likely Loki's magic was either completely depleted or bound in some way.

Dismissing those thoughts for later, Tony began to cut through leather and fabric alike to get to the reopened cut beneath. The inventor then carefully removed the tunic and vest from Loki with as little movement from the god as possible. When the gash was fully visible Tony glanced up and found himself locked in the raven haired man's unwavering stare. They remained that way for a moment before Loki looked away and Tony, taking the move as permission, immediately began to carefully clean the area surrounding the wound and then the wound itself.

The cut was a deep red line that stretched across Loki's chest, crimson tears dripping from the reopened gash where the red ribbons traced their paths down the god's torso. The god's chest and the area surrounding the gash were covered in bruises and the occasional burn mark, more damage than any other place in the raven haired man's body so far. Tony was loathe the see the damage that had been done to Loki's back if this is the lasting damage that was done to the god's torso.

Despite being as gentle as he could when cleaning the gash, Tony would occasionally hear a soft whimper or moan of pain from Loki, pain and exhaustion slowly overtaking the injured god. Tony had to be extra careful when wrapping the gauze around Loki's chest because of the broken and cracked ribs, making sure that the wound would stay clean and the ribs would heal properly.

It was not long before the wound was clean and the god's chest was bandaged and wrapped but it felt like much longer. Now that the adrenaline from seeing Loki and the subsequent panic attack drained away, the weariness that stemmed from not being able to truly sleep in nearly seventy-two hours caught up to the inventor. Hopefully, the new information he had learned about Loki would help stave off the nightmares for a while.

Tony reluctantly pushed himself off of his oh so comfortable couch with a soft groan as he stretched. Turning to his new houseguest, Tony clapped his hands and announced, "All done! Now for your room..." Tony trailed off when he noticed that Loki had finally succumbed to his large array of injuries, exhaustion, or, more likely, a combination of the two and was laying peacefully on his couch, oblivious to the rest of the world.

For once, the raven haired man looked almost completely relaxed, making the god look younger and happier than he did when conscious. The only problem was that Loki was passed out on his couch where, he knew from experience, waking up in the morning was painful. It was a comfortable couch for sitting and resting on but definitely not sleeping.

"Change of plans. JARVIS, do we have a guest room on this floor?" Tony asked as he bent over to pick up the sleeping god.

"Indeed we do, sir," JARVIS quickly replied. "There should be an available room at the end of the hallway, last door on the left."

Tony nodded in acknowledgement and carefully wrapped his arms around Loki, careful to avoid the newly wrapped chest, and lifted the god into his arms. The breath whooshed out of the billionaire's lungs as he almost dropped the unconscious man back onto the couch. For being such a skinny guy Loki was deceptively heavy, so as Tony struggled under the unexpected weight he grunted out, "Forget about the guest room, J. Where is the closest room with a bed?"

"The closest room is located just around the corner on the right," JARVIS answered smoothly. As quickly as he could, Tony carried the unconscious god through the open doorway (Thank you JARVIS) and swiftly deposited his burden on the bed as gently as his straining muscles would allow before sitting down on the bed next to Loki's sleeping body.

"Damn! How heavy can such a skinny man be?" Tony questioned in confusion. The inventor wasn't exactly weak, he couldn't afford to be. After all, the suit wasn't just controlled by JARVIS, he had to be strong enough to move in the suit without JARVIS's help and even though Iron Man wasn't made of iron it was still pretty damn heavy.

"His bone structure does appear to be significantly denser than a humans resulting in a higher weight," JARVIS helpfully supplied and Tony rolled his eyes. "His core temperature also appears to be lower than the human average by 9.64 degrees and I have adjusted the room temperature accordingly," JARVIS continued.

"Thanks, J," Tony said with a small smile. He hadn't even noticed the change in temperature but he wasn't exactly a normal human. The arc reactor emitted enough heat to warm the surrounding casing that rested in his chest making his body was a few degrees warmer than it should be, so the cooler air was quite comfortable to him.

He only gave himself a moment to rest though before getting up to make sure Loki was comfortable and it was then when he really opened his eyes and looked at the room he was in that he remembered. In the midst of struggling with the deceptively heavy god and the bliss of the colder air, Tony's mind had not fully registered the significance of the room he was sitting in. In a moment, the inventor's eyes snapped shut as he tried to block out the painful memories the room provoked in him.

This was the room that he had previously shared with Mrs. Potts before her abrupt departure and had been abandoned every since, Tony opting to work as long as he could in the lab before passing out either on his desk or managing to drag himself to the bed he had moved to the lab with the hopes that he was tired enough that his nightmares never invaded his mind. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but the work had let him successfully block out the loss that was associated with this room.

Pushing the memories aside for the moment, Tony slowly moved the raven haired man beside him into a more comfortable position before pulling the thin, silk sheets up to the god's chest. With a sigh, the billionaire brushed the inky black hair off of Loki's peaceful face. It was unlikely he would be able to get much rest tonight despite being as tired as he was.

"Notify me if there are any changes," Tony requested as he rose and walked out of the bedroom.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied softly as Tony continued on his search for a distraction, answers, and new clothes that would fit his new house guest. He anticipated Loki would be here quite a while.

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Since school is finally out I will be posting more often. At least I hope I will. I have another story that I am working on that is a Star Trek AU. I love it and hope that if you like this story you will read my Star Trek AU.

A big thank you to the people who wished me luck on my finals! I got all A's!

Please review!


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